Stage one, Tour of Two Rivers

Todays race was a win for Epic Valkyrie tactics! 

Arriving at the race we realised as soon as we got out of the car that today would be all about the wind. The gale today made the Stockingbingal handicap seem like a pleasant breeze. We sussed out the competition and there were four or five women in C Grade and me and one other woman in B. All the women were grouped to set off in the men's D bunch.

On the line I had a good position and knew that the pace would be intense off the line as I had a fair suspicion that the bunch would split early.

I was right and out of the gate into a cross wind the pace was hard but manageable but the wind made the bunch horrible.

No one wanted to pull turns and when they did the bunch was sketchy and really strung out. In an echo of the famous D Train I pulled quite a few epic turns which meant that I was prob working a bit harder than I should (although I could hear Brad in my head saying "remember Rach, what would Boz do?"). With that in mind I started trying to avoid turns which is a skill all it's own and I was pretty proud that I actually got a bit aggressive in a men's bunch and stole some wheels successfully which I was pretty proud to pull off in a race situation.
I  stuck on D  a fair while till shortly before the KOM my HR went above where it was at Coota and i blew up, and dropped off. Just like at Coota i thought NOOOO and gave it some efforts to get back on which i did and i would have hung on but the wind was INSANE!! and although I yelled at the three on the back, they wouldn't hold their wheels so I couldn't get a good draft and dropped off. Once i dropped off i had really bad chest pains even when my HR slowed to 138bpm and sat there for ages and  it was SO painful so i slowed right down and took it as evidence of  the last few weeks of exhaustion. 

Once i knew i wouldnt get back on I cruised till a big bloke came by and I sat really computably in his echelon It was pretty funny as he tried repeatedly to surge and drop me but in such a massive draft I hung on easy. Some marshals came past and I slowed down for a chat about the rules of scratch where they suggested I could turn early if I wanted as long as I removed my number but I kinda felt like finishing. The big guy got away while I was chatting but we were nearly at the turn and all of a sudden someone was behind me.

I looked back and there was this tiny 15year old from womens C who had obviously been working her guts out to chase me down! I was so impressed I slowed down so she could sit in. We turned and pretty soon caught the big guy for a nice draft as I taught the junior where to sit in the echelon. 

Meanwhile KateM approached the turn with a commuter in fluoro.

We rode along as a trio for a while when i started to do the math. O wasnt sure if the points for top ten were split by womens grades (in which case id be 2nd by default) or whether all the women would be lumped together. I realised this meant i was likely towing this junior in  (who was amazingly strong) and risking a place.

It occurred to me that now might be a time to try a Lisa-cadel O'Grady breakaway.

I've never tried to breakaway from anything but I figured the tricks were : sudden, fast, and go hard enough  and fast enough that the surprise of it psyches them out and they dont chase.

I looked ahead and wondered when you are supposed to attack and figured a good time would include the end of a climb and followed by a downhill. Sadly the course was dead flat and I knew the real issue was that once I went I'd be in the wind alone.

Nevertheless I wanted to have a go so I quietly clicked up the gears and then BANG! straight into the Simon Dwyer sprint drills and to my amazement I opened up a fairly big gap, and then held it for quite a while. Pleased that it had worked I eased up again and soon KateM (in her first ever road race) had caught on with the yellow commuter.

It was obvious fairly quickly that she was experiencing the kind of race bullying that so many women put up with before they learn (as Valkyries) to tell d***heads to F*** off.

Worried she had been having a rough time I offered to drop off with her but she was DETERMINED to teach him a lesson. 

Stoked that she was refusing to let him demoralize her I wondered what tactics we could use.

The commuter was pushing everyone into a shitty and sketchy echelon where he kept getting cranky at everyone and getting on front.

Realising that he would take turns thinking we didn't know what we were doing I thought we could play it smart, let him do the work and sit in to beat him in a sprint.

Unsure if Kate understood my plan, I sat in on her wheel and refused to pull turns despite his calling me out.
I also figured they'd be pushing to get the other girl ahead of us on the line so the plan was to hang in, avoid work and keep the pace constant so that the others were working and would be in the wrong position for the sprint.

It worked like a charm. Kate pulled epic determined turns meaning I could conserve and try to work out how far away we were. 

Suddenly about 800m out the junior had a respectable attack but not fast enough to be a surprise and gave me the tip that we were nearly there. 

With the energy I'd saved thanks to Kates hard work I got straight in the drops and gunned the sprint drills we have practiced in training.

The big guy who had mostly sat in tried to challenge but couldn't hold it and thanks to Ange B who had dropped a chain and had to turn early and was standing on the lone so that I knew where it was, I got over the line first of the last bunch. 

There wasn't any prize money in it as the other B grader and one C grader who might find herself bumped up pretty soon had held on to D grade, but it was an EPIC tactical win in my book, and has finally helped KateM realise that she, is a bike racer.

ROOAAAAAAAARRRRRRR!

Go Valkyrie, Go Siren.

Oh and the commute? Dropped like a stone. After the race I congratulated the junior who said it was her first race, to which I suggested she talk to the national talent ID Program. Once again, the country clubs were stoked to see us there.

Field Test

This morning Linda and I completed the Field Test as suggested by Simon - a 6km ITT from SFP towards Uriarra and a Mt Stromlo rep. Maja was unable to join us but had predicted the weather to be cold and windy - and she wasn't wrong. The sky was deceptively blue and the sun had some warmth in it, but there was a very strong icy head and cross wind that added an extra challenge to this ride.

We were joined in our pursuits by the wonderful VMax boys Brad, Andrew, Paddy and Eric, who after completing their 2 1/2 hour ride in the very early frosty hours of this morning, kindly agreed to lend some support and encouragement.

We started with the ITT, Brad helping us with the standing start which was something I hadn't tried before. I hadn't ridden the course prior to today so it was good to have Andrew beside me to talk me through some of the hills - the first one in particular was nasty riding into the wind.

Next we tackled Stromlo. I had a goal to beat my previous time of 21:37 mins (very slow I know) which I had set on 23rd July. With the wind against me I wasn't sure how well I could do - even though I knew I was fitter and stronger on the hills since last time, thanks to some sprint training and rides out to Shingleback Hill.

Anyway, despite the crappy weather I managed to shave 2 minutes off my time - getting to the top in 19:29 mins. As well as this, I spent more time in a lower heart rate zone. My maximum heart rate (177) and average heart rate (165) were the same for each effort. Don't exactly know what this means, but anyway I didn't feel like I reached my maximum heart rate during the efforts as it was more fatigue in my legs that was the limiting factor. Maybe you can give me some tips Simon on what I need to focus on in training to improve this??

Although it was hard, I was glad to have gone out and done this today to set myself a baseline time for the ITT and to see a great improvement in my time on Stromlo. It has motivated me to keep getting out there and giving it a go. Thanks so much to Linda for braving the weather with me and Brad, Andrew, Paddy and Eric for spending over another 2 hours out at Stromlo with us. Your support was greatly appreciated.

Sirens

Announcing the formation of the first Valkyrie race team, The Sirens

We are very excited to have formed the first race team from the Valkyrie Vikings Development Squad with the support from Siren Bar and Restaurant in Gungahlin.

Ladies, it's time to get our hot new kit ordered, please post your orders below so I can collate them (I will later delete the posts, this is just a useful way to pull them together).

See you on the start line soon!

Tour of Two Rivers

Valkyries!

Sign up here ( a comment below to advise if you are keen for this tour)

2011 Tour of Two Rivers:


Stage 1
Saturday 10 Sep 2011 - Bertoldo Spring Classic (Griffith CC)

Stage 2
Sunday 11 Sep 2011 - Clasica Chrono Riverina Individual Time Trial (Griffith CC)

Stage 3
Saturday 25 Sep 2011- Riverina Clasica Road Race (Tolland CC)

Stage 4
Saturday 22 Oct 2011 - Grand Prix Cootamundra (Coota CC)

Stage 5
Sunday 30 Oct 2011 - Giro Delle Bellbridge (Albury/Wodonga CC)



NEWS

- Griffith CC will hold an ITT on the morning of Sunday 11th September, the day after the Bertoldo Classic race. This will now be stage 2 of the TTR. Griffith CC have negotiated special rates for riders at the Bagtown Inn, Griffith. Entries are now open for Stages 1 & 2

-For the first time, a promotion/relegation system, up to stage 3 will be in place. If a rider is promoted /relegated, that rider will take his/her points with him/her, however the points will be limited to the highest number of points the highest rider in the new grade has. Obviously relegated riders would not have this limitation. The Tour handicapper Barry O’Hagan will determine promotion/relegation.

-The Albury/Wodonga CC have got a new finish (map) for their race. It appears to be at the top of a hill ( 6.5 percent gradient) after 2.5km. Sounds like another race Philippe Gilbert will win.

The Siren Variation!

This morning a pretty large bunch of Sirens, Valkyries and Vikings set off for the regular Sunday training ride known as the PROD (Permitted Ride of Delight) and what a delight it was!

We thought that given the epic results of late including Dees 4th place and 1st female at Coota, Lisa's 2nd place at GCC, and my first top ten finish, not to mention the Vikings taking out the Interclub trophy over Goulburn, Bankstown and CCC - we'd better make it a celebration, and what better place than the Siren's new sponsor, Siren Bar and Restaurant in Goulburn.

There were two groups according to speed, with Eleanora, Linda and Leonie rolling together in a nice evenly matched group, and Lisa, AngeB and I riding Valko-Maxx styles with Bosworth, Braddles, Mr T, Sir Callahan, Draft Porter, Club Captain Drew, Mr Larkin, and muffin-enthusiast Oliver for company.

Everyone had read the forecast and packed at least one layer too many so there was an ongoing strip tease on the way out.

Once we got to the Tulip Farm the sprints started and there were some splits on the hills, with a regroup at the top of washing machine.

The bunch picked up a nice fast pace down to Lake G, and Leonie pushed her group to the top of Shingle before turning. 

The Valko-Maxx bunch, on the way back from Lake G made a left at Shingle hll rd, and continued on to Tallagandra Lane.

About 3/4 of the way along Tallagandra, whilst climbing a hill, not working particularly hard (HR was about 165 which is E1 for me) I started to feel a bit fuzzy and think it would be a good idea to sit down by he side of the road and have a nap. Recognising the early warning sign of a bonk coming on, i whipped out a vanilla power gel (mmmmm nom nom nom) and was shortly ok to keep going.

We turned onto Mulligans Flat for about 500m of dirt which wasn't too concerning, and by the time we got into Gungahlin, everyone was talking about food and coffee. 

Arriving at Siren Bar, we lined our bikes up like a parade along the side of the bar and pulled some tables together for a fantastic breakfast (big thanks to Siren for squeezing us in on a busy Father's Day Sunday)  and breakfast and coffee soon rolled into beer o'clock!!

The food was great and  the staff really looked after us even though they were pretty slammed.

Everyone was a bit achy getting back on again, but soon we were rolling into town, and back towards the city, rounding out with 101km for me by the time I got home, and something like 60km for Leonie's group. I am SUPER impressed that it was Leonie pushing the bunch to get up Shingle Hill and get those extra efforts in, and then make it to Siren Bar un-mentored. Well done girls, its awesome that you pushed yourselves, but also - a really big step forward in terms of your development as riders that you ran your own ride and followed a route yourselves. You are officially all independent roadie racers now and your progress over the last few months is kinda mind-bogglingly impressive. 

It was beautiful weather, fantastic company, a great bunch and pace and one of those rides that reminds you why you love riding your bike so much.

Thanks guys, after a pretty bat-crazy week - that was exactly what I needed.

Looking forward to repeating the Siren variation again soon! Can't wait till we have our new Siren kit to wear to Siren!!!

The impact of negative comments

Unfortunately the joys of doing well in a race, or even riding well and getting stronger in general, are often marred by insensitive / negative comments from other riders. I don't think this is unique to female cyclists, although in my opinion I've received a higher proportion of negative comments from females v males.

I received a negative comment this morning about my race yesterday. Up until that point, I'd been feeling fantastic about it. I thought I'd had a great race yesterday and thought I'd done what was required of me: going with a few riders from another club when they broke away; working with my team as much as possible until riders from the other club blew the race apart; etc. There had been no discussion of race tactics beforehand, so I had understood the race was a "do what is required based on how the race unfolds" type of a race. But to cut a long story short, I was basically told this morning that I'd done it wrong. One statement brought me crashing down: post-race high turned into post-race come-down very dramatically. I won't go into what the statement was, as I don't think it's really relevant, but I'll tell you how it's made me feel: I don't want to ride my bike anymore. Yes, slightly (melo)dramatic as I love riding my bike but that's the powerful effect one negative comment can have. I'll get over it, and will keep riding my bike, but it made me realise that there are probably others out there that feel similar, and maybe it would be worth putting it out there how I was feeling and how I'm intending to deal with it.

I know I'm not the only person who takes negative comments way too seriously. I don't usually offend particularly easily, but do tend to get offended about comments about my actions. It's probably a typically female reaction though, guys would generally just ignore the comment / use it to fuel them for a cycling-related smack-down at a later date. So I've tried to think about the comment for what it is worth, consider whether or not it was valid and move on. But still, it's left a sour taste in my mouth just when I was getting back into the swing of riding / racing again.

It's also made me think about how I talk to other cyclists. Sometimes things need to be said, but there's a way of saying them (ie, think about how you would want to hear comments like that and then try and repeat them in the same manner). And I always celebrate others successes whatever they may be, as if you celebrate them, you can actually be part of those successes and piggy-back off them yourself.

And to steal a line from Lisa Jacobs: ride happy as life is too short to ride mad.

GCC Interclub Handicap - Race Report

Well, I had a top day at Breadalbane today at the GCC Interclub Handicap. A swarm of Vikings, (and more importantly Valkyries!) headed over for the event, with some of us driving over in convoy to Collector and then enjoying a 17km warm-up ride to Breadalbane on undulating country roads, with minimal traffic and majoral farm-life (cows and sheep galore!). I knew it was going to be a fun race at registration as the GCC reps on the rego desk were lovely and there were lollies.

There were 5 mins between each of the bunches, and I was in the 3rd bunch away. We rolled out and very soon had a well-working pace line formed. Everyone seemed very strong in our group, and there were quite a few big blokes that were pushing the pace up pretty early. I was feeling good though so kept pulling turns, and our Vikings / honorary Vikings crew were working really well together looking out for each other and giving advice re tactics, including when to respond to attacks, etc (big thanks to our lovely coach Simon D in this regard!). We hit a fairly flat / downhill section (which I must admit I didn't notice was downhill until the return journey!) and at that point I pretty much stopped pulling turns at the front and enjoyed getting a draft from a few of the bigger riders in the group.

Everyone had been talking about a hill at or near the turnaround, so I was most relieved when we hit a bit of a hill and I could see the bunch in front as I thought it was a good sign we were nearly halfway through the race. Sure enough, we started climbing and one of the GCC riders (# 17) went off the front, making it clear he was a pretty good climber. I tried to go with him but didn't really have the legs, so sat up and waited for everyone else at which point the Lee-train (we had two awesome Lees in our group!) came through and dominated and brought us all back together again.

We all enjoyed a brief moment of respite at the turnaround before we seriously started to think about catching the group in front. The turnaround was also good as we could see how much we had on the group behind, which didn't seem to be much at all! We decided to get a wriggle on to see if we could stay away and then our Vikings-train hit the gas and we were off. We then hit a fairly solid hill, which turned out to be the hill that everyone was talking about. I had seriously not noticed that we had descended down the hill on the way to the turnaround so was really surprised when I found I had to suddenly put in the hard yards and go uphill. I was still feeling pretty strong, so tried to sit on the front of our group and pace-make, and give the group in front plenty of warning when we were coming past so they could make the jump onto the back of our group. GCC rider #17 attacked at about this point, which was probably particularly good tactics on his part, but particularly poor on mine. I was shattered and didn't have the legs to go with him. But the gradient eased off a fraction, and a paceline started up again. I very much enjoyed the respite provided by Dave and Rach at this point (thanks guys!), but the gradient soon picked up again and I got back down into chase-mode. I had pretty much reconciled myself that I wasn't going to be able to catch GCC-rider #17 and basically sat up to go back to our group, at which point another GCC rider caught up to me (GCC-rider #18) and I jumped on his wheel for a free-ride up the rest of the hill. It hurt a lot staying on his wheel, but he was a big guy and I thought that if he managed to catch up to #17 then there would be no stopping the pair of them on the downhill, so I dug deep and hung in (only just, believe me!). We caught #17 near the top of the hill and I enjoyed a brief recovery section before I realised that #18 had started riding backwards (or so it seemed) and I was going to have to stop free-loading and start doing some work.

So #17 and I started pulling turns and somehow dropped #18. We were certain that we'd be caught by the group on the downhill as the two of us probably weighed not much more than a combined 100kgs. But we kept going, and going, and going. Each time I rolled off I'd look around and comment that I still couldn't see the chasers. The only problem was that I wasn't sure how far the race was, and I hadn't reset my Garmin after my warm-up, so I had no idea how much longer we had to go to the finish. I felt my legs starting to cramp on one of the final undulating sections, but somehow managed to stave it off to get over the line.

Coming towards the finish I was on the front, and knew it was going to be a sprint finish and the odds were stacked against me getting up. I started accelerating, trying to drop #17 as I knew he was tired and hurting, but he managed to dig deep enough to get around me and cross the line about half a wheel length in front of me. We chatted briefly at the end (when we had our breath back) and he was a lovely guy and I was really pleased for him that he'd raced so well as it turned out it was his first race back after a serious illness.

It was great watching everyone else coming through the finish line. Some excellent sprint finishes from some of our Vikings guys, but I think the day actually belonged to the ladies, with three of our ladies finishing in the top 10 overall (nice work Lee and Rach!). Goes to show that a race like a handicap can really be anyones if people work together properly and organise their groups. As for me, I was just lucky that it was hilly enough for me to get a gap and that I had such a great crew to work with for the first 2/3 of the race (and a big shout out to rider #18 for towing me back to the lead rider so that I could be part of the breakaway in the first place!). So thanks team!

We enjoyed some more Goulburn hospitality in the form of a BBQ after the ride, and then the Collector convoy jumped back on their bikes and tried to run the sunset gauntlet to get back to our cars before sundown. More beautiful country scenery, more fantastic company (albeit slightly more relaxed than during the race) and more great time spent riding our bikes.

Top day all round. :-)

Finally made it to training!

Ok so Tuesday was meant to be my first session back but failure to check emails meant I missed it, so today was it. As I set out to have a little warm up ride before meeting Rach I thought it was a great morning to be out, clear skies and not too cold, but by the time 6 am rolled around so had the fog and I was now not feeling quite so warm.

Just a small group met, 5 of us, my kind of bunch ride! It was actually the perfect way for me to start training and I soon realised that I actually wasn't that nervous and although I wasn't sitting super close to the wheel in front I was a lot closer than I'd maanged in my minimal attempts to bunch ride in the past.

We headed out along the Federal Highway and it just seemed to get foggier, which meant I got a little wetter and a little colder. I was able to stick with everyone for a while but we soon split and the V-Max peeps were a long way ahead and I was conscious of trying not to slow Rach down. I got lots of helpful hints from Rach throughout the ride which helped me to ride more smoothly and not spin so much. We re-grouped and were together again for a short while, this time a few drills thrown in, which threw me a bit and showed my inability to mix up my speed. (Triathlon is one long time trial).

We turned and headed back in and Rach taught me a few more drills that will require a fair bit of practice for me to get up to scratch. 3 x 10's (my legs are really unfit) and bike benders, cycling drills have much cooler names than running ones :)

Huge thanks to Rach for all your advice this morning and slowing to let me catch up on more than one occasion. Thanks also to the V-max guys, today was a good introduction to group rides and helped me get a little bit of confidence that I'll be able to do it.

Cootamundra Handicap weekend

I promised to write a race report for the Cootamundra weekend and realised that if I didn’t do it now, I probably wouldn’t get around to it at all. So at the risk of rushing through the weekend, here it goes…

But before I start, I should mention that I rode two completely different races – my Saturday race was the worst one in living memory; the second one of my best. In hindsight, the cause was obvious: preparation, pacing and placement… my Garmin results show the difference in performance quite well so I’ve included them in case people are interested.

Disaster Saturday – 106k Coota Classic: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/109971517#.TlzA_5AaCo8.email

On Saturday morning Libby, Rach, Boss, Andrew and I headed to the wonderful town of Cootamundra to participate in two handicap races. We met up at the motel and followed check-in with the usual race prep, a quick sandwich and a casual ride out to the race start. A train crossing nearly caused us to miss our starting time, but luckily we just made it, though there was no time for a warm up.

Because I had flukishly won the Wagga handicap earlier in the season, I sadly wasn’t allowed to start with Libby and Rach and had to join the next bunch, which consisted of boys only. Big mistake as it later turned out! Shortly after starting, I knew this wasn’t going to be my best race. My heart was racing and the sandwhich I’d had earlier wasn’t sitting well at all. Sure enough, I had trouble pulling my turns up the first hill and by the second one at 15k, I well and truly hit the wall and had to drop off the bunch. I tried to stay with the following bunches but – unsurprisingly – that failed miserably!

With another 50k to go before I could DNF, I was grateful for the company I came across on the way. The first was an older rider who I pace-lined with a bit until I lost him on an uphill; second was a guy who I had a pleasant chat with until he managed to stay with the overtaking bunch (well done you!) third was Rach – and boy was I grateful for a familiar face at this stage. We rode well together for a while until I could no longer keep up with her when we joined up with a bunch we caught. On my own again, I met Kingsley, a bloke from Chiffley, who convinced me to keep riding for another 2k into town rather than stopping right there and then for a snooze in the grass.

And that’s exactly what I did after arriving into Coota, having completing just 75% of the course. Thank heavens Rach noticed I needed lots of Gatorade and a bite to eat, both of which helped massively. And the great thing about DNFing is that you can hang around to watch the finish, with a fabulous result for Libby (2nd female)! Andrew also placed well, but Boss unfortunately had to pull out of a brilliant race early with a puncture.

Sunny Sunday – 66k Coota Recovery: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/109971523#.TlzAoe0GvQY.email

The next day started a lot better than the previous one. To start with, I’d slept for a grand total of 12 hours! Brekkie was also a lot more sensible too: no heavy sandwiches less than an hour before race time, but a banana and some home-made banana bread, followed by a banana gel just before race start. (Bananas are my thing now!)

Another massive improvement on the day before was that I got to start in limit! This helped big time as I wasn’t forced to smash myself with 35-40k per hour speeds from the word go. That’s not to say that it wasn’t hard to stick with the bunch, but for some reason it just seemed to flow a lot better.

The bunch worked really well together, everyone pulled their turns and we were keeping ahead of the other bunches. Unfortunately we lost Rach after a while, whose stellar effort the day before was having an effect, together with a few other limit riders. But as we continued to work as a group for the next three laps it took a long time for the next bunch to pick us up with less than 10 k to go.

A spectator warned us that the next bunch was only 1,5 minutes behind and I was sure we’d get caught. But not long after, my Garmin showed 64k on the clock and I realised the finish was not far away. Pace-lines were out the window at this stage and everyone was jostling for a good position. I was sitting about 10^th wheel with Libby and Emma just in front of me. When we turned the corner, I realised I’d better join the sprint. Because I was in a fairly well protected position, I was able to move up the right side of the bunch fast and overtake a few people before finishing 4^th overall and first female, a result I totally hadn’t expected. I wonder if I can convince the organisers I should start in limit again next time….

So there we go, I love handicaps. But above all, I love the weekends away, hanging out with friends. So thanks heaps Rachael, Libby, Boss and Andrew for a great weekend!!!!!!!

Sponsorship, speed and Saturday's bunch ride

So I thought I would post about what for me was a really satisfying weekend on the cycling front.

It started Friday night at Siren Bar and Restaurant (http://www.sirenbar.com.au) where we met our new sponsor, and officially became the Siren’s!! I think that place is AMAZING! Worth the drive if you are not from the north side – really modern with an awesome deck and open fireplace. Can’t wait to ride there for breakfast in our new kit!!! - and can’t wait to try some of their cocktails.... they looked amazing!!!!!

Saturday we met at 9am for the Cotter/Urriara loop and it was my first time. See Ange's post below. Thanks for the post Ange – I totally forgot about my little outburst going up the three sisters... in my head I had planned a more appropriate expression of my difficulty but somehow in the time it took to get from my brain to my mouth it had been converted to something a little more passionate! I don’t necessarily think the 3 sisters alone are that much of a big deal but more because they are at the end of the ride that makes them challenging. I was also surprised at my efforts up Mt Macdonald.... while I LOVED the decent I was partly dreading the fact I’d have to climb back up, but it really wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be (and no where near as bad as Red Hill... (my nemesis!). Thanks so much for the ride ladies – and Simon! We had a really good bucnch going and was REALLY good to have Linda with us again. I had sooooo much fun!

I was down the coast Sunday so didn’t do the PROD – would love to hear how it went though - but I did get out for a ride from Broulee to Moruya along George Bass Drive. Not a long ride (hour) but I was happy to have my legs ticking over given I was only there for the day after arriving late Saturday night. I felt good on the bike – and, Simon, I think I’m starting to see some of our sprint training translate into my riding speed which is really motivating! Am really looking forward to tomorrows session!

So, all in all, a really good weekend – sponsorship, excellent bunch ride Saturday and noticing improvements in speed Sunday. The only disappointing thing is that I have acquired a (faint) jersey tan line on my arms! NOOOOOOOOOO!

See you all tomorrow!

Uriarra Cotter - fun in the sun (and an impromptu TT)

Today's ride was pretty awesome, for a few reasons;

• For Teagan, Maya and I it was first time for the SFP - Three sisters- Uriarra- Mt Macdonald - Cotter Dam and return ride
• Linda back on the bike (and off the windtrainer!)
• It was just great to be out on a long ride on a perfect morning for riding.

Ingredients:

Perfect late winter day

Sunscreen (dusted off after 5 months at the back of the cupboard)

Awesome teammates - Ches, Anna, Maya, Linda, Teagan, Ange

Supercoach Simon

3 sisters

random bunch of guys with fortuitous flat timing.

Damn good scenery! (the hills, not the guys... okay - the hills and the guys..)

Method:

Setting of from SFP sliiightly after 9am Anna and I set the pace at the front (a little eagerly perhaps) as we headed away from SFP. Maybe it was the nervous excitement about the ride I'd successfully avoided in 3 years of triathlon training?? But I must have pushed too hard or something, either way after 6 or so kilometers I started getting really bad cramps (damn girly bits!! - it's something that happens to my from time to time, and it literally takes my breath, and my legs away - and not in a good way) Thinking that I could not possibly push on for another 50kms with this discomfort, I told Maya what was going on and turned around and starting rolling slowly back towards SFP.

After about 3 or 4 minutes of rolling slowly along, spinning my legs pretty lightly and relaxing, the cramps had completely gone. It was then I though to myself, well, the only way to get better at cycling, is by cycling. Plus it was such a beautiful morning, and I did not want to miss out, or cop out, of finally doing this ride. Going home and missing out on the ride was not an option!

So I turned around and as I picked up the pace I calculated that I had probably lost about a km or so (turns out it was more like 1.8kms) and that I could probably make up some time on the descent into Uriarra as the bunch would wait for the lighter girls, and as far at the climb out - well I just didn't think of that, I figured at worst I would chase them all day and then they would catch me on the way back - if I didn't get lost in the meantime...

So I rode along, pretty carefully down the three sisters - well for me anyway, (fun! can't wait to do it again when the road is that bit more familiar) through Uriarra crossing, and paused for a moment- T intersection! Thank god for road signs, and I dutifully turned left and slowly wound my way up out of the crossing. Despite being eager to catch up, or catch a glimpse of the bunch, I took it pretty easy up out of the crossing, as I had absolutely no idea how long the climb went for. Turns out it's not so bad and I followed the flattening road around to the right and as I picked up the cadence, speed and gears I caught a glimpse of the bunch - maybe they were only just over a kilometer ahead from me now!

The road flattened out and I figured this must be the 'false flat' Rach was talking about. All I was trying to do now was catch glimpses of the bunch, and figure out if I was gaining. Using some of the things I've learnt from the Vmaxxers and Simon, I thought I'd see how high I could sustain my HR, and keep my pace up that way, so I kept it at 85% (according to my Garmin which is at around 155) This I kept up for about 30-35 mins, until I had chased the bunch down. I was also working on 20 pedal strokes in a harder gear, 20 back in the less painful gear, 20 up 20 down, then 30 up and 30 down, gradually working my way up into harder gears, and really making some good speed along the false flat.

I even remembered to eat at the 45min mark. Not my neatest meal but much needed. Gu is my friend:-)

I realised that I was actually gaining on the bunch and this buoyed me along the false flat as I got nearer and nearer. I thought - should I call out?? But to be honest, I wanted to see if I could catch them myself. I finally got a bit of a help when I went past a bunch of guys who had fixed a flat and were just getting back on their bikes, a moment later they passed me and I asked them to tell the bunch ahead that I was trying to catch them, they told me to get on but I told them I couldn't - the leaders seemed to be were flying along! One of their guys didn't ask, he just rolled past me and sat in front, I jumped on his wheel straight away and when he was happy I was there he just told me to yell out when I could go faster - pretty soon we were smoking along!! The last 150m of chase down was great, the bunch had just rolled to a stop around the corner when I showed up after thanking the guys (perhaps I little too profusely but I was a wee bit elated to be back with the group).

After that the ride was great, more new stuff - down Mt Macdonald with Ches and Maya taking the lead and zooming down. After a short break at down at Cotter reserve thingy we headed back up, I took it nice and slow, I just wanted to get back to the top without stopping. I was just so in awe of Linda who was riding ahead of me, her bike was like a rock under her and her cadence didn't falter, meanwhile I was all over the shop, my legs were heavily rolling over, and I was breathing like a freight train! But slow and steady (that was Linda) and laborious and wobbly (that was me) made it to the top in not too bad a fashion, as the uber climbers Anna, Ches, Simon and Tegan took a second wicked turn at the climb (not exactly incentive to get better at the climbing Simon - just my thoughts...) Anywho, then it was time for me and Maya to go back down to the intersection - Siren style, and we belted back down to the T Junction. It did occur to me that we were only just over halfway and still had to climb the three sisters and get home, and smashing or legs probably wasn't the smartest thing.. buuuut -as they say. When you can descend fast - do!

Back on the road the false flat in reverse (with Anna and Ches on the front and me in the bunch- yay!) and the descent into Uriarra crossing was pretty damn good.

The three sisters, not so. Once again focussing on my own speed (9.2kms per hour - is there another term, maybe pace-lack thereof would be more appropriate??) I was about 15m behind Maya as we both made our way up the climbs in our own heads. Maya was a little outspoken about halfway up the second climb, (this is a family forum so I wont repeat it here - needless to say she was not a bit fan of sister number 2 at the time...) and I burst out laughing - not recommended when you are riding uphill, makes it hard to breathe. But we made it and had a break at the top as the bunch regrouped. Another bunch of girls caught up and were pretty keen to hear whether we were training for anything (we looked pretty flash in our Vikings kit) asking us if we would be doing crits etc, (they were totally sizing us up. When we get to A grade - we'll kick their butts!!!)

Riding back to SFP Maya did a great turn on the front and Ches, Anna and Teagan took us home.

Things I learned today:

I love to chase and TT! (Caveat - not up hills!) And actually like pushing myself along by myself mentally and physically (yeah I'm crazy).

Laughing whilst trying to slowly pedal up the second miserly sister is not recommended, you need your energy and breath for pedalling.

Even if you are only doing 9km per hour up the crappy hill, you do get there.

Baked potatoes are a fantastic recovery food!!!

Sorry for the epic post, but I am still buzzing, I had a great day, I'm so glad I went, so glad I turned around when I felt better and made the effort to catch up. I hope that the others had a great ride too and post about it as I'm sure I've missed heaps and I can't wait till the next one.

Getting Back On The Bike

It's been 11 weeks since I've ridden outside and the latest visit to Mr X-ray finally showed that the fracture was calcifying. So it was time to get out of the Evil boot I'd been forced to wear (better than a fibreglass cast!) and push a bit harder on the Wind Trainer. I'm grateful for the recent wet weather as it forced me to have another week on the WT, cause if I was honest I wasn't ready to ride outside.

To test my foot out I chose my regular early morning loop as it gave me plenty of chances to turn around if things weren't going well. The first little hill I managed to do seated with no pain, given my cleat position in relation to the fracture I knew this was a good sign. During the ride I practised climbing out of the saddle as well as seated, sprinting in my drop and threw in some time trialling, not only to keep it intersting but to really see how my foot would cope.

It took me two outside rides to realise that I really do want to continue or more to the point really start training with Valkyrie. Being injured gives you too much time to think and I'd convinced myself that I would never be able to bunch ride or race and keep up with eveyone. However since I have no desire to ever do another Ironman there is no reason why I can't focus on getting some confidence bunch riding. So I'm looking forward to coming along to Tuesday's session and hopefully many more to come.